Making the Sale: When it comes to selling business to business (B2B) it can be more of a challenge than selling to directly to consumers (B2C). And, when it comes to telecoms, businesses tend to stress the features of the product or service (for example: SIP Trunking enables teams to make and receive phone calls, video conferencing, and messaging from one central location) and rarely focus on the benefits that buyers will gain (for example: SIP Trunking unifies your communications system so all of your company’s digital communications will be integrated into one platform, making the comms seamless and saving you money).
In this blog, we will look at 10 key steps to making the sale.
1. Know your prospects
First things first, do your research. You need to understand everything you can about the company and the prospect you are planning to get into contact with. Doing your research means you will be prepared, and you can position your business accordingly. Researching a business can also help you identify whether they’re likely to make a purchase, reducing the amount of time spent contacting cold leads.
2. Raise awareness on social media
Using social media is a way to raise awareness of your business with potential prospects. If you follow them on social media they’ll most likely follow you back and see your relevant posts, articles and blogs about your solutions. So, even before you reach out, you have entered their mind subconsciously when you popped up in their feed. Show them what you can offer before they realise they need it.
3. Identify the pain points
If you can determine the problems a company is facing, you can tailor your products or services to provide a solution. For example, say a company has a remote work force that needs to be able to communicate hassle-free with clients, their colleagues that are also on the road or back in the office. To keep costs down, improve productivity and maintain a professional appearance, they need to find a cost-effective comms solution. You can provide them the solution of SIP Trunking or VoIP. Be the life line they need!
4. Use a CRM
To grow your customer base successfully you need to keep track of your prospects properly. Installing a CRM solution will help you keep track of prospects, pending deals, upcoming meetings, sales that have closed and more.
5. Talk to the decision maker
It’s rare that you’ll get the decision maker on the phone your first call and it takes time for items to get approved, especially if someone with no power in the company is proposing it. It’s important to save your elevator pitch to the person who is qualified to make any buying decisions.
6. Honesty is the best policy
Unfortunately, salespeople don’t have the best reputation. Some buyers think that all they care about is making a sale, no matter the outcome. It’s extremely important that you’re always honest when selling B2B. Never offer a solution that you do not have or that will not benefit the buyer.
7. It’s all about the benefits, NOT the features
As mentioned earlier, salespeople tend to focus on the product features and not the benefits the customer will gain. It’s great that a UC solution integrates mobiles, has softphones and reporting functionality, but what will it do for them? Will it save them money? Will it increase their employee’s productivity? Based on your research tell them about what will benefit them most because that is what they need – even if they don’t realise it until you point it out!! They don’t care how advanced the feature is. They care about what it will do for them.
8. The price is right
Everyone loves a good deal. However, you should always maintain your prices. Your prices reflect the value of the product you are selling not your prospect’s budget. However, it’s important to offer flexible pricing. Providing a solution within another business’s budget gives them the opportunity to see that you can accommodate their needs which means you’re more likely to make the sale.
9. Keep the door open
If you’ve offered your solutions, demonstrated the benefits but they’re still stuck on the price, don’t give up. Resist the urge to focus on the price because it will turn into a back and forth bargaining game. Make a counteroffer instead. The offer does not have to be a lower price but perhaps additional calling minutes or channels.
10. Follow up
The B2B buying process is generally longer than B2C. Business decision makers must take into account many factors such as budgets and the opinions from other decision makers. It’s important to stay focused and remember great things don’t happen overnight. Don’t give up and throw away the lead in frustration. Follow up regularly to check on, and note, their current status, because the situation could have changed from the last time you spoke and you may still make that sale.
SIP Trunking Services
As a wholesale provider, SIP Trunking Services gives you the best possible SIP prices so you can deliver a first-class service to your customers whilst increasing your margins, safe in the knowledge that you have the full back-up of an experienced team of engineers.
You have complete control of the system with our SIP Trunk Self Service Portal, while we manage everything behind the scenes to ensure the technology stays ahead of the curve. Our SIP trunks can be connected to any SIP-compliant PBX.
To find out more, contact our team on 0333 344 7570 or email us at partners@wholesalesiptrunks.co.uk.
Not partnered with us yet? Get in touch to talk about how we can help you grow your business!
